- Gideon further stated that without shifting focus from taxation to industrialization, the continued increase in tax rates would not necessarily translate to increased tax revenues.
- His remarks come after several deaths were reported as a result of countrywide protests against the Bill on Tuesday.
Image: FILE
Kanu chairman Gideon Moi has spoken about the current situation, insisting that the enemy is not the people but the Finance Bill, 2024.
In a statement on Wednesday, Moi said that the country is currently mourning the lives of young people exercising their democratic rights to picket.
He said their deaths were a result of opposition to the Finance Bill and the situation could get worse after the National Assembly approved a motion to have the Kenya Defence Forces join to assist the police.
The former Baringo Senator said the duty of KDF is to protect territorial integrity.
Gideon said that treating innocent Kenyans as enemies instead of looking at the issue at hand is a misdiagnosis of the problem.
"It must not be lost on us that these unjustified deaths were occasioned by vehement opposition to the Finance Bill, 2024, and the situation is likely to be exacerbated with the impending deployment of KDF," he said on X.
"To treat aggrieved Kenyans as the enemy, rather than addressing the Finance Bill itself, is to misdiagnose the economic turmoil facing the country."
Gideon said that Kenyans are facing harsh economic conditions with diminished household and disposable incomes when public officials live flashy lifestyles.
He added that by assenting to the Bill, Ruto would be making an already bad situation worse.
"Even as we urge for sobriety, the onus is now on the President to put the well-being of the country above anything else and return the Bill to Parliament," the Kanu boss said.
"In the interim, the Finance Act, 2023 should remain in effect while the government undertakes austerity measures to cut down on excessive expenditure and seal loopholes of pilferage."
Gideon further stated that without shifting focus from taxation to industrialization, the continued increase in tax rates would not necessarily translate to increased tax revenues.
His remarks come after several deaths were reported as a result of countrywide protests against the Bill on Tuesday.
Nairobi county government on Wednesday said that so far 12 bodies have been registered in two city morgues from the protests.
In a statement on Wednesday, Health executive Suzzanne Silantoi said the 12 persons were brought to the City mortuary and Mama Lucy Hospital mortuary.
"The Nairobi City County Government has confirmed a total of twelve (12) bodies, with six(6)at the city mortuary and six (6) at Mama Lucy Hospital mortuary, who were shot during the anti-finance bill demonstrations held in the city yesterday," she said.
Silantoi gave the figures following an assessment visit to the City mortuary, in Nairobi.
The protesters, mainly youths, stormed the streets to demand the rejection of the ‘punitive’ Finance Bill, 2024, in countrywide demos that also rocked President William Ruto's and Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s home turfs.
Gunshots, tears and running battles marked the #totalshutdown# demos even as the MPs voted to amend various clauses fronted by the National Assembly’s Finance Committee.
Transport was paralysed and business premises closed hurriedly as gunshots and tear gas rent the air in major towns across the country.
Ruto’s hometown, Eldoret, in Uasin Gishu county and Gachagua’s Nyeri town in Nyeri, witnessed massive protests for the second time in as many weeks.
The youths also staged demos in the duo’s political strongholds of Kericho, Nakuru, Narok, Turkana, Embu, Meru, Kajiado, Laikipia, Nyandarua, Kiambu and Murang’a.